


When the Jacksons saw Hadestown

by trashofalltrades



Series: Broadway Mishaps and All That Jazz [2]
Category: Hadestown - Mitchell, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: A little bit crack, F/M, Fluff, Musicals, Paul has made another mistake
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22203565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashofalltrades/pseuds/trashofalltrades
Summary: Paul surprises Percy and Annabeth with tickets to Hadestown, which may or may not be a mistake.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Paul Blofis/Sally Jackson
Series: Broadway Mishaps and All That Jazz [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1598272
Comments: 12
Kudos: 152





	When the Jacksons saw Hadestown

**Author's Note:**

> More broadway ridiculousness!
> 
> Can stand alone but also references part one of this series

A few days before Percy and Annabeth were set to arrive from New Rome, Paul turned to Sally as he dried the dishes and said, “Do you think we should surprise the kids with tickets to a show?” They had broken down for Percy’s birthday a few months before and finally taken him to the Blue Man Group, but there were so many other good shows out there that _weren’t_ based solely around the blue theme.

“We could always do Chicago again,” she said with a grin.

He cringed. “How about we not?”

“Well, do you have a particular one in mind? I thought we agreed last time that after all their adventures they wouldn’t find them all that interesting.”

He let out a hum as he thought, setting the last of the plates in the drying rack and turning back towards her. “Well, what about Hadestown? It won a bunch of things, right?”

She burst out laughing, burying her head in her hands as Paul waited patiently for her to finish. “You want to take our son and his fiancé,” she gasped. “To a musical named after Hades. That’s based entirely on a Greek tragedy. When like,” she waved her arms around, laughing again, “it all actually exists?”

“Why not? Could it be a little close to home for them? Maybe. But it’s going to be based on the pure popular culture version of the story. I’m sure the ‘gods’ and everything will seem totally different. They’ll probably think it’s hilarious!”

At first, he appeared to be right, and he gloated about this fact as they sat in the theater. They had both been so excited when he and Sally surprised them—Annabeth had heard some of the music before and wanted to see the differences between reality and popular mythology. From the very beginning she and Percy were elbowing each other, trying to stifle their laughs as the three fates came on stage.

Percy leaned over to him whispering “They’re about a million years too young for this role, but can you imagine how much more _fun_ prophesies about your death would be if they sang while they cut their thread?” Paul shushed him, the two of them turning back to what was happening on stage, only for Annabeth and Percy to start whispering something about how this version of Hermes seemed like a much more encouraging father figure.

Most of the first act went by without incident. He could see Percy and Annabeth tear up a bit during “Wait For Me,” but nothing truly catastrophic. Intermission also helped lighten the mood because as soon as the lights came on, Percy pulled Paul close, the beginnings of a maniacal grin on his face. “I want you to look around,” he whispered, “and really look past the mist. I noticed it a bit when we first sat down but now that everyone’s milling about it’s more obvious.”

Paul paled a bit. Percy telling him that he needed to see through the mist usually meant that someone was about to be eaten by a monster. Yet after doing a casual scan of the room he relaxed, spotting only some nymphs, a satyr, a girl with a bow and arrow strapped across her back, and an odd couple sitting close to the stage. “Wow. Seems like we weren’t the only ones with this idea,” he said laughing. “The camps should take field trips here. Is that couple in the front someone I’m supposed to know?”

Annabeth’s eyes widened as she tuned into their conversation, her face cycling through horror, hilarity, and fear in the span of a second. “Only the title character and his wife themselves.”

He gaped at them, turning to Sally, then the kids, then back to Sally before he slumped down in his seat in defeat. “I hereby decree I will never choose what we see from here on out.”

“Are you kidding,” Percy said, very obviously craning his neck to try and get a better view. “This is amazing! I’m dying to know what they think.”

“Shh,” Annabeth said, pulling him back into his seat. Yes, it’s great but let’s not be noticed.”

“What is he going do? Yell at us for interrupting his really weird date to go see a musical that’s partly about himself?”

“Shh,” they all said again at the same time, Sally barely able to hold back a smile. “I’m glad you’re having fun, but can you have fun and also not bring the wrath of gods upon us and innocent Broadway goers?”

_Oh shit they’re not having fun_ , Paul thought very soon after the lights went back down. The smiles from act one were gone and he began to panic, glancing over at the kids only to see both of them clutching tissues that Sally had found at the bottom of her purse. He had bet on this underworld being not at all like the one they had actually endured, but apparently there were enough similarities for Annabeth to be part curled up under Percy’s arm both of their faces streaming as Orpheus sung about walking to the underworld to find Euridice during the reprise to “Come Home with Me”

It was emotional music—he teared up too during “Promises,” squeezing Sally’s hand—but it was also riveting. It was so easy to get wrapped up in the story, to be convinced another ending was possible, in spite of the way the myth ends. At some point he had stopped paying attention to the kids, figuring that at this point the damage was done. Instead he silently rooted for the characters onstage as they journeyed out of the underworld, only to let out a choked noise when Orpheus turned. The whispered “it’s you” crushed him and he looked over to see Percy and Annabeth clinging to each other, as if by holding on they would be safe from the fate that could have been so easily been theirs. That could still be theirs. He could feel more tears start and next to him Sally rested her head on his shoulder, the four of them passing the last of the tissues around.

At the end they stood to applaud, Paul giving them a sheepish smile. Before he could even attempt to apologize for again not fully knowing what he was getting them into, Annabeth held up a hand.

“This was amazing. Gut wrenching and very depressing? Definitely, but I knew what this was going to be like, and I still love it.”

“I didn’t’!” Percy protested. “It was great, but you said the music was relatable not that it was, like, _relatable_ relatable.”

Next to him Sally laughed a little wetly. “Glad you still managed to enjoy it. We hope you aren’t scarred for life.”

As the applause died down the music began again, the cast trying to leave them with a little bit of hope as the Persephone on stage raised her glass in a toast that seemed to be directed to the real Hades and Persephone a few rows in front of her.

“Do you think she knows?” Percy whispered.

Annabeth shrugged. “If Amber Gray can see through the mist then it’s a testament to her acting ability that she hasn’t run off stage screaming after seeing who knows what in the audience.”

As they started to file out, the applause over, the “who knows what” in question as if on cue passed by them. Hades and Persephone gave slight smiles and a nod to Percy and Annabeth before quickly disappearing into the rest of the crowd. Paul froze, slightly terrified, Percy grabbing his hand and dragging him along.

“It’s fine, they seem to have liked it. What if this was just weird couples therapy for them?” Annabeth burst out laughing, agreeing with him as they made it outside, turning to head to the subway.

“You two should give Nico a call tonight, tell him that there’s a new fan of show tunes on Mount Olympus,” Sally suggested.

Percy nodded. “On one hand I agree. On the other, if I got a call like that I would want to die.”

“Definitely,” Annabeth broke in, “but it would be even better if we called to convince him that not only did Hades see it and love it, but that he’s staging a production of it on Mount Olympus with him playing himself.” Percy’s eye grew wide, the two of them falling behind he and Sally, giggling as they discussed how far they wanted to take this story and alternately, if they could actually make it happen.

Paul just shook his head. “Will they ever stop creating trouble?”

“Nope!” Sally said cheerfully. “But think about it, dear. If they set the production in the actual underworld, the set design would be incredible.”

He groaned, letting Sally laugh at him before they moved on to talk about other parts of the show. Behind them he could hear the kids doing the same, Annabeth launching into a deep analysis of staging choices and Persephone’s characterization. As they walked down the stairs into the subway their conversation lulled, and it wasn’t until they were past the turnstiles that Percy turned towards Annabeth and out of the blue asked “Do you think we could have done it like that? Would you trust me?”

And as the crowds gathered on the platform around them, Annabeth looked up at Percy with a soft smile and said, “I already did.”


End file.
